This is a platform to comment on local, state and national politics and political news. A special area of interest is the role of corporate media in politics as we move closer and closer to one huge corporation owning all of the media outlets in the country and stifling all independent and critical voices. It will also focus on the absurd 30-plus year Nixonesque political strategy of the “liberal media” lie.
This blog is on temporary hiatus because of my job and thin-skinned Republicans.

"I don't think there's anything offensive about any variation of faggy, faggotry, faggot, fag.” March 6, 2007 on the Sean Hannity radio show.

As you are aware, there is a growing number of people trying to stop Coulter from coming to Livingston County, and we want to save Cleary from blowing $30,000 and embracing a hatemonger like Coulter.

One way we can do that is to contact the sponsors of the series and ask them to uninvited Coulter. This week we are highlighting the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce. We have included the snail mail address, the email address and phone numbers of the board members. I urge you to contact them and politely express your concern with Coulter’s appearance. The most important point to be made is her appearance in Livingston County reinforces the general perception that Livingston County is a safe haven for racists and bigots of all ilks.

8 comments:

Thanks for the addresses, I will be sure to let the Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce know that Coulter is not entitled to exercise her First Amendment Right to voice her opinion publicly without fear of censorship.

If they are looking for a precedent, I will recommend that they review the Salem witch trials where the town elders ( which are like a Chamber of Commerce) hanged 19 witches and imprisoned 150 others ( God forbid that there are 150 Coulters running around!).

Keep up the good work, if there is another Coulter, I know you will find and condemn her.

You’re welcome, rick. God knows you can’t get any correct information from rightwing blogs or the conservative media.

What does this have to do with the First Amendment? I am not making any law prohibiting her or anyone else from exercising free speech. My problem with this situation is by paying this bigoted hatemonger $30,000 we are embracing and celebrating her discriminatory views. Like I said before, it sends the message that my community not only welcomes and embraces bigots of all ilks we pay them handsomely.

After you’re through trying to explain what this has to do with the First Amendment, perhaps you can try and explain to me what this has to do with the Salem Witch trials. I do see the analogy.

You can rest assured I will keep up the good work, and you will see another installment of the stupid, hateful and ridiculous things Ann Coulter says next week. There are a lot of Ann Coulter wannabes, like Michele Malkin and Laura Ingram, but there is, thank God, only one Coulter.

Communications guru,I tried.I sent the following email and received the Chamber of Commerce's answer below:

Dear Chamber of Commerce,

Some of my liberal blogg friends are conducting a witch hunt to keep Ann Coulter from speaking at the Economic Club Speakers Luncheon, and have asked me to write you about the seriousness of this matter. Personally, we are afraid that she may brainwash you with her highly developed intellect which can only come from her dabbing in conservative black magic.

I, therefore, respectfully request that you deny her the right to voice her opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment per the First Amendment's Freedom of Speech. If you are looking for a precedent, then look no further than the Salem Witch Trials where the town elders (which are like a Chamber of Commerce) hanged 19 witches and imprisoned 150 others.

I hoped, that I have helped you make the right decision. And I will notify my liberal blogging friends that I kept my promise about speaking out against this abominable conservative.

The great thing about this country is that everyone has the right to voice his or her opinion, be it liberal, conservative or middle of the road without persecution. The same right that allows liberals to voice their opinion on web logs allows a conservative to speak at a luncheon.

A couple of years ago one of the speakers was Kwame Kilpatrick. He is someone that I personally dislike. I disagree with his political stance and his leadership abilities yet I was at that luncheon and did not raise a ruckus or call him out on anything. If the liberals dislike Ms Coulter then they should not show up, plain and simple.

Political viewpoints and opinions have always, and always will, vary widely. At our age most of us have viewpoints and opinions on nearly every political subject and one speaker is not going to sway our decisions one way or another.

Matt Sova

Well said Matt. Reed Kittredge

Thanks for responding, Matt. I completely agree with your response.Pam

You sure aren’t going to let the fact that I debunked your ridiculous argument stop you from using it are you, Mr. Peasel.

Again, there is no witch-hunt, I am not your friend and what’s a blogg? Again, it’s sad that you think the racist and bigoted insults she throws around pass as intellect, but I see why because you are a conservative. The only people she is brainwashing is people like you who think her shtick is real political commentary.

Again, how can the chamber of commerce possibly deny her the First Amendment's Freedom of Speech? I suggest you read the Bill of Rights, or better yet have someone read it to you.

Again, what does the Salem Witch trials have to do with an institute of higher education paying $30,000 for two hours of prejudice and discrimination?

As for Matt Souva he’s a strong Republican. Hell, he has to be if he still supports Bush.

Ask Mr. Souva how many bloggers are paid $30,000 to express their opinions for just two hours.

Why would Souva hate the mayor of the largest city in Michigan? What does Coulter have to do with Michigan? Did the mayor receive $30,000 for his appearance?

The last time I looked witch-hunt was defined as an investigation or campaign against political opponents or ideologies conducted on the pretext of protecting the public welfare and resulting in public persecution or defamation of character.Note: This was a fascist tactic used against all those who dare to question Russian policies.

As for being brainwashed by Ann Coulter, I never even heard of Ann until I spotted an advertisement on the Internet at drudgereport.com. I researched Ann Coulter and she is defined as the Michael Moore of the Republican Party. Per my research, Ann Coulter is not prejudice or discriminatory. Ann Coulter’s only sin is that she is a liberated woman, who does not subscribe to the current fad of having political correct etiquette.

Ann Coulter sounds like a $30,000 fire sale for an undergraduate at Cornell, founder of the Cornell Review and a member of the Delta Gamma national women’s fraternity. She graduated cum laude from Cornell and received her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, where she achieved membership in the Order of the Coif and was editor of the Michigan Law Review. At Michigan, Coulter founded a local chapter of the Federalist Society and was trained at the National Journalism Center. She handled crime and immigration issues for Senator Spencer Abraham of Michigan. She later became a litigator with the Center for Individual Rights.

Hmmm – Seems like Ann Coulter is a sophisticated Republican version of Michael Moore. I agree the Chamber of Commerce would not pay very many bloggers $30,000, as most of the bloggers, including myself (a newbie blogger), have only a tiny fraction of Ann Coulter’s credentials and experience. I wonder if Michael Moore is worth $30,000 for speaking two hours.

As for Salem witchcraft and today higher levels of education, the educated ministers lived in fear and awe of anyone who was different. If they, normally a woman who should be seen and not heard, would or could not be changed, they were tried and condemn in public – seems like times haven’t changed much from the early days of Salem. We only have been able to eliminate the public executions.

Where was the last time you looked for the definition of ‘witch hunt?” The only time I looked was now, and the only definition I could find was at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt), and the definition is “ witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and mob lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials.” Like I said before, that is the worst analogy I have ever heard.

I find it a little hard to swallow that someone who runs a blog called “The View of a Conservative Michigander” has just now heard of Ann Coulter. Granted, she hasn’t accomplished a lot, but you can’t ignore the fact that the most outrageous, hideous, racist and bigoted thing she says she just endears herself even more to conservative like you. Please forgive me if I’m a little skeptical, Mr. Peasel.

There is no way you can compare Michael Moore — or any non-conservative – to Ann Coulter. She is in a class by herself, and that’s no class. There is no way the hateful crap that comes out of her mouth is just about not being “political correct etiquette.”

You think statements like some of the doozies she has made are just about not bring political correct? Please.

To a disabled Vietnam vet: "People like you caused us to lose that war."---MSNBC On Princess Diana's death: "Her children knew she's sleeping with all these men. That just seems to me, it's the definition of 'not a good mother.' ... Is everyone just saying here that it's okay to ostentatiously have premarital sex in front of your children?"..."[Diana is] an ordinary and pathetic and confessional - I've never had bulimia! I've never had an affair! I've never had a divorce! So I don't think she's better than I am."---MSNBC 9/12/97 "I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote."---Hannity & Colmes, 8/17/99 "I think [women] should be armed but should not [be allowed to] vote."---Politically Incorrect, 2/26/01 "I think we had enough laws about the turn-of-the-century. We don't need any more." Asked how far back would she go to repeal laws, she replied, "Well, before the New Deal...[The Emancipation Proclamation] would be a good start."---Politically Incorrect 5/7/97

She’s all class, and that’s why she speaks for you.

All I get from your posting of Coulter’s resume is she that did well in college, and that she worked for a Republican Senator and then for a right-wing non-profit group. You did leave out that she wrote three books, but they were just pages filled with half-truths, outright lies and name-calling. She has even been accused of plagiarizing some of them. Her real and only claim to fame is the disgusting things that come out of her mouth. There is no way that equates to a $30,000 speaking fee.

There are a lot more respected, sane conservatives Cleary University could have invited if think they needed someone political that have much better qualifications than Coulter and are not bigots. I may disagree with them, but they are not bigots. How about conservatives like Pat Buchanan, Joe Scarbough, Henry Kissenger, Cal Thomas or Mike Pence; just to name a few, since I don’t know that many. Any one of those people have accomplished much more and are respected more than Coulter.

Hmmm – If you think Ann Coulter’s remarks are “sophisticated” then now I know why she’s so popular with people like you.

Coulter’s appearance in Livingston County reinforces the general perception that Livingston County is a safe haven for racists and bigots of all ilks, like Coulter. By paying Coulter a substantial fee to appear, Cleary University and the other sponsors are partners in the spreading of her liturgy of hate. If

I just researched the Vietnam story, and like I thought, the whole issue was taken out of context just like 90% of all politically incorrect comments. :-)

The way I understand the Vietnam story, is that this veteran was telling Ann Coulter “"in 90% of the cases that U.S. soldiers got blown up [in Vietnam]—Ann, are you listening?—they were our own mines.". When Ann looked at him in disbelief, he again stated that soldiers are dying from our own mines. Ann then stated, “No wonder you guy lost”. Apparently the veteran had misconstrued an army report and should have told Ann that 90% of the enemy mines were using American purchased parts and blowing up Americans.

I am not going to look up all of Coulter’s statements, I just wonder by liberals, who are living in such fear of women’s politically incorrect comments, had worked so hard to liberate the wormen in the first place?

As for witch hunt, I usually use the Merriam-Webster dictionary. I used it before the Internet and before wikipedia. I think Webster is just a tab more authoritative and wee bit more expansive then wikipedia.

I did some research too, and the quote is 100 percent accurate. In fact, further research makes Coulter’s cold-hearted and disgusting remark even more offensive.

“This veteran” is Robert Muller, a former Marine LT. who was leading a Marine Infantry Platoon when he took a bullet in his chest that severed his spine, and he’s now confined to a wheelchair. He’s the President of Veterans of America and co-founder of International Campaign to Ban Landmines. In your world how is the fact that “90 percent of the components used in enemy mines came from U.S. duds and refuse” not the same as “in 90% of the cases that U.S. soldiers got blown up [in Vietnam]—Ann, are you listening?—they were our own mines?” It means the exact same thing. You, of course, failed to source where you got your info, but this is from the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting web site, http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2496

The only good news from that disgusting incident was MSNBC had the good sense to fire Coulter for it. So I can only assume you support and embrace her telling a decorated combat veteran he was the reason we lost in Vietnam? She speaks for you, correct?I not only suggest, but I challenge you to research the rest of her disgusting quotes so I can refute your conclusions.

You honestly believe its OK for “liberated women” – or anyone for that matter- to spread hate and discrimination like that? I don’t.

Well, for not liking wikipedia very much you used it on this post and when you quoted her resume. I have a copy of Webster's New Century Dictionary, but I rarely use it anymore. I use Dictonary.com online, and it uses Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms and Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. It’s also free, just like wikipedia.

Trying to stop a bigot like Ann Coulter from speaking at a respected institute of higher education does not meet any definition of a witch-hunt, no matter what dictionary you use.